.35 

.B36 

:opy 



I* .^^^*A 






CL-ri'^.t-a 



(X, 



'O..-w04,XX.C 



- a. 






1i^.? 



c,- 







N 



Gass b.^:^! 



Book. 



3r 



\ 



GHANGELLOESVILLE 



fl Paper read before Tt^e Uriited Service Club 

Ptliladelpt|ia, Penria. 

ori Wednesday, February 8, 1888 



byJ/1/T\E5 B^/^CE late i2tl? /T\a55. l/ol. lr)far?try 



SECOND KDITION 



PHILADELPHIA 
1892 



' o> 







MAP I. PRIOR TO APRIL 29. 



<bi\t ^wibxt"^ an^ Siftg Co^cb ^nntcb 



JAMES BEALE, PrinlLT, 

719 Sansoiii Street. Philadelphia. 




HE Chancellorsville campaign is one of the vexed problems in the history 
of the Army of the Potomac. It is admitted that its brilliant com- 
mencement was dimmed by its ignoble ending, and quite a variety of 
opinions, with some asperity of debate concerning the operations, has 
arisen. No one can approach the subject without forming some opinion. The present 
intent is to as far as possible let the facts tell their own story. 

Those of us who then served in the Potomac army will recollect the feeling of 
discontent which had arisen, and certainly none can withhold from General Hooker all 
praise for the transformation that followed his assumption of command. He himself 
impulsively declared it " the finest army on the planet," but it contained elements of 
discord. Tlie service of twenty-three thousand short-term men was about to expire, 
and with much unanimity these declined further duty. I well recollect one regiment 
which on April 28 flatly refused to break camp. De Peyster alludes to thirty-eight 
regiments which left the line on the morning of May 4, and speaks of others as having 
to be forced up at the point of the bayonet. Have we all forgotten tlie rumors of a 




MAP II. EASTWARD ADVANCE MAY 1. 



* In the " Official Reports of ChancellorsviUe," of which but five copies were issued by the War 
Department, some officers, in giving diagrams of positions, show locations held by " stragglen." I am 
indebted to the courtesy of Colonel John P. Nicholson for access to the volume. 



"stragglers' brigade"?* and is it not a query whether Hooker's assertion was not more 
of a wish than a fact? 

Be this as it may, he conceived a plan of campaign, by skilful maiueuvring decoyed 
the wily Jackson some miles down the river, and with three of his seven corps turned 
Lee's left flank. According to the Richmond Examiner of May i it was five a. m. of 
April 29 when the first news of the Federal passage of the Rappahannock was received 
at Fredericksburg, but Lee seems to have remained quiescent until May i, when he 
began to bestir himself. Meantime the Third Corps, with two divisions of the Second 
Corps, had been added to the troops at Chancellorsville, and on May i Hooker ordered 
an eastward advance. Lee also had determined to investigate, and at about the same 
time advanced westwardly. Some desultory fighting ensued, resulting in the return of 
the Federal columns and the taking up of a new position. 

~jERE the student begins his troubles. There are those who would havens 
believe that from this moment Hooker parted company with his wits. 
De Peyster almost laments that he had not fallen ere ordering this retro- 
grade. Hooker's explanation is that he was apprehensive of being 
"whipped in detail," but some of tlie officers concerned in the movement think this 
apprehension unfounded. General Humphreys, for instance, says "We should not 
have been withdrawn. ■ • • We ought to have fought the enemy there." General 
Hancock declares "I have no doubt we ought to have still kept pushing on." 

Right or wrong. Hooker withdrew, and the night of May i was spent in fortifying 
the position along the plank road and north of Chancellorsville, during which time Lee 




■< 



ruminated on the problem, still uncertain whether the blow was to come from the east 
or west. 

'"'^"^-IFTER a serious conference with Jackson it was agreed that the latter should 
take his corps and endeavor to turn the Federal right. The daring of the 
conception is only equalled by the contempt displayed for the Federal 
troops. Jackson started ; it is said he inquired his way as he went along, 




[^ 



having no definite route fixed. He had not gone far before he came in plain sight from 
Hooker's lines, and as the road here bends sharply to the south the general impression 
immediately was "Lee is retreating." 

Early that morning Hooker had ordered the First Corps to his right, but the mes- 
senger lost his way and did not reach General Reynolds till nearly five o'clock that 
evening. Hooker also personally visited General Howard's position, and at half-past 
nine o'clock a. m. wrote an order to Howard in which he avers "The right of your line 
does not appear strong enough ; please advance your pickets." 

Howard denies having received this order, and is backed by his adjutant-general. 
The order appears in Howard's letter-book among some June memoranda, which shows 
it eventually reached him. Did he get it on May 2 ? 

General Schurz avers that he received it and read it to Howard on May 2. The 
Eleventh Corps chief-of-staff is quoted as saying that Howard read the order and 
pocketed it. Which statement shall we believe? 

Meanwhile the Union soldiers listlessly watched this mysterious column moving in 
their front, and idly conjectured as to its meaning. I have no doubt the prevailing 



3 



* Colonel William L. Candler. t Bates' " Chancellorsville," page 90. 



impression at the time was that it was a movement in retreat ; but an officer of Hooker's 
staff, of unquestioned conscientiousness,* is very circumstantial in his statement of what 
took place at headquarters. He declares that after watching the movement Hooker 
spread a map on the bed and carefully studied it, soliloquizing somewhat thus : "It 
can't be retreat; retreat without a fight? that is not Lee. If not retreat, what is it? 
Lee is trying to flank me." Having reasoned to this point, the 9.30 order was drawn 
and sent to Howard on tlie right, where it was supposed the First Corps would shortly 
be. 

N its face it certainly looks as though Hooker had taken all possible precau- 
tion. It was not his fault that the despatch to the First Corps miscarried ; 
he had notified Howard to be careful ; and Professor Bates claims a mes- 
sage from Howard, dated eleven o'clock, a.m., in which Howard refers 
to this moving column of the enemy as visible from the extreme right, and says he is 
"taking measures to resist an attack from the west."f 

General Sickles now requests that he be allowed to move out and investigate. Two 
divisions of the Third Corps break their way through the forest, and a rifled battery 
opens on the Confederate column, which speedily disappears from the road whereon it 
had been seen. Closer examination proved that the column had merely shifted to a 
parallel road, and was still moving; but the reports sent in induced Hooker to send a 
telegram to General Butterfield saying "We know that the enemy is flying, trying to 
save his trains." 

In order to reap his full harvest, General Sickles demanded more troops. A brigade 




* Brigadier-General F. C. Barlow's. 



f Brigadier-General A. S. Williams'. 




from the Eleventh Corps,* a division of the Twelfth Corps, f and what few cavalry had 
been left with the army, moved out to the front. Still unsatisfied. General Sickles asked 
for his remaining division, but it was not sent. While he is busy with his dispositions 
let us see what "measures" Howard had taken to "resist an attack from the west." 

section of artillery facing westwardly, two regiments, the men standing 
three feet apart, and thirty-five cavalrymen as patrol. The rest of the 
corps facing south. General Devens says, "These dispositions were 
ordered by Major-General Howard, and examined by him after they were 
made." Having in this fashion made his line secure, Howard accompanied Barlow's 
brigade in its journey in quest of Sickles. Meanwhile the Eleventh Corps was formally 
notified to get its supper, make itself comfortable, and — go to bed ! 

In the official reports, as well as in the sworn testimony, there is so much of contra- 
diction that one is puzzled to get at the precise truth. Instances of this will appear 
further on. A case in point is Barlow's brigade. 

General Birney says " Barlow reported to me that he was on my right, and had 
completed the connection between it and his corps." 

Colonel Underwood, whose regiment led Barlow's column, says " Barlow's brigade 
marched by itself down the furnace road for miles. Night overtook it. It received no 
orders from anybody, and that it stopped before reaching Orange Court House was due 
probably to good luck as much as to anything. It marched back to see if it could find 
out anything, halted within a mile of Dowdall's Tavern, and General Barlow held a 
council with his colonels. It was determined to come back, and as the only road known 



* The Confederate military prison at Andersonville, Ga., was not opened until February, 1864, 
nearly a year later. 

I 11th Mass., 1st brigade 2d division 3d corps. 

J Acting. The ranking officer ran away, and was therefor dismissed the service. 

^ Colonel Ryan, 63d Penna., 1st brigade 1st division 3d corps. 




was the one on which it marched out, it was decided to take that back to camp. If it 
had, probably most of the brigade would have been next day on its way to Anderson- 
ville."* 

This hardly substantiates General Birney's statement made in his official report. 

UT General Birney also contradicts his corps commander, for in his report 
cited above he says he " was preparing to bivouac when informed that the 
Eleventh Corps had been driven in." In his testimony before the Com- 
mittee on the Conduct of the War, he says "I formed my division into a 
large square, with my artillery in the centre." 

General Sickles says " I was about to open my attack in full force ; had got all 
ready for that purpose." Thus we have a corps commander about to open an attack 
with a division that is preparing to bivouac. 

This is not the only strange thing about this forward movement to the furnace. If 
the Third Corps reports are to be believed the wearers of the diamond badge displayed 
some backwardness in going forward. 

Colonel Blaisdellf— styled by his corps general " a circumspect and intrepid com- 
mander"— says of the Berdan sharpshooters sent out with him, "It was impossible to 
keep them to the front." His lieutenant-colonel adds, "They shamefully ran from the 
enemy's fire." 

The chief-of-artillery Third Division Third Corps} complains that one of his bat- 
teries received a volley from its infantry support. One of General Birney's regimental 
commandersg speaks of "rallying fragments of regiments" of his own division "even 



J 




MAP III. JAOKSONS ATTACK MAY 2 P.M. 



* Major Brady, 17th Conn., 2d brigade Isl division Illli corps. 



f Von Gilsa's. 



at the point of the bayonet." General Birney himself reports two colonels and two 
lieutenant-colonels of his division as "behaving badly." These are frank admissions, 
and one cannot help inferring that all was not what fond fancy could wish. 

HE forces before the Third Corps were the 23d Georgia (captured), a bat- 
(.''.. -V I'.- ':■ ■? tery of artillery, and the brigades of Posey, Wright, Archer and Thomas. 
It has been claimed that this forward movement was intended to be in the 
nature of a parry to Jackson's flank move. In other words, in flanking 
Hooker Jackson was himself to be flanked by Sickles. In theory this is no doubt excel- 
lent ; but, unfortuTiately for its success, Jackson w-as not in the habit of walking into 
such traps. Jackson's attack was from the west ; the Third Corps was facing to the 
south. No one can doubt the patriotism or bravery of the Third Corps; but assuredly 
the movement to the furnace — beyond question well meant — was unfortunate in its 
execution. 

Jackson found the Eleventh Corps with its right in air and a gap of nearly two 
miles on its left. He formed on either side of and perpendicular to the turnpike — 
Rodes in advance, followed by Colston, with A. P. Hill in support. The orders were 
of the most positive nature, — "stop for nothing." "push right on," "under no cir- 
cumstances pause." An hour was spent in preparation, and soon after five p. m. the 
signal was given, and Jackson swiftly moved forward. 

The Eleventh Corps reports are unanimous in declaring that the section of artillery 
posted in the road promptly departed without firing a shot. One officer adds "Neither 
did they undertake to fire a gun."* And the brigade on the extreme rightf not only 



* Bushbeck's. 

f General Sickles claims to have recovered some of this, but the officer in charge says this is an error. 



abandoned its position with much haste, but in its flight stampeded McLean's brigade. 
This practically put an end to General Devens' division. General Schimmelfennig, 
who was on the left of McLean, avers that Von Gilsa fired one round, McLean none, 
and that neither could be rallied again. General Schurz's division appears to have 
made some effort at resistance, for the Confederates admit some fighting in this vicinity; 
and by the time they had eliminated .Schurz and reached the solitary brigade -'= represent- 
ing Steinwehr's division they acknowledge "stubborn resistance," "heavy fire of 
artillery and musketry." 

Y dark the Confederates were within a mile of Hooker's headquarters, the 
Eleventh Corps had vanished, and the three lines with which Jackson 
started had become so confusedly mixed that it was positively necessary 
to halt for reformation. Riding forward in the darkness to examine the 
enemy's line, Stonewall Jackson was wounded, and a week later, — with his mind still 
on his last great work, — cro.ssed "over the river," to "rest under the shadow of the 
green trees" of immortality. 

This sudden onslaught of Jackson and consequent withdrawal of the Eleventh 
Corps found the Third Corps general "about to open an attack on Jackson's forces." 
He promptly abandoned this purpose and managed to regain the Union lines. In this 
movement his ordnance oflScer left as a souvenir seventy thousand rounds of ammunition 
snugly cased on the packs of thirty-five mules. f Reaching Chancellorsville he ordered 
a charge on the Confederates, which was made by General Ward, supported by Graham 
and Hayman. This latter officer says "The rifle-pits were carried in the face of a 




U.S. Turd 




MAP IV. MAY 3 A.M. 



* Colonel Pierce, 3d Michigan, 3d brigade 1st division 3d corps. 

f Colonel Underwood, 33d Mass., 2d brigade 2d division lilh corps. 

% Lieutenant W. H. Gordon, 6lst New York, isl brigade 1st division 2d corps. 



terrible fire from friend and foe." One of his colonels* adds "It was discovered that 
we were charging the Twelfth Corps." An eyewitnessf of the charge says " We saw 
the start and saw the return — a demoralized ma.ss of men running to the rear as fast as 
their legs could carry them." General Hayman acknowledges that his brigade "was 
not fully reorganized till it was placed in a strong position to the rear." The Confed- 
erates seem to consider this midnight charge an affair of small moment, for their men- 
tion of it is very brief and somewhat contemptuous. Witness Rodes, "Being feeble in 
its character and jiromptly met, it lasted but a short time." 

T was now midnight. Stuart had been called to take Jackson's place, and 
concluded to wait for daylight ere renewing hostilities. Hooker was busy 
laying out a new line in which the Eleventh Corps was carefully placed 
gjgju^^j-^ out of harm's way, the right being assigned to the First Corps, which had 
arrived on the field. Hooker also bethought him of General Sedgwick, and ordered 
him to march forthwith, destroy all that came in his road, and rejjort in Lee's rear just 
as early on Sunday morning as was possible. 

Very early in the morning of May 3 Stuart pushed his troops forward. That there 
was some heavy fighting is attested by the Union losses, and the fact that it took hours 
to force Hooker's line. Yet the student is puzzled, for the reports cheerfully testify to 
much of running away. 

A Second Corps officer ;]; says "The regiments in the rifle-pits on the right gave 
way, and passed us in disorder. About 11.30 o'clock the 66th New York broke and 
fled in dismay." General Sickles alludes to the "premature and hasty retirement of 



"i' 'F^^- 



* Colonel Tippen, 68th Penna., isl brigade 1st division 3d corps. 

f Colonel Collis, 114th Penna., 1st brigade 1st division 3d corps. This officer's report is endorsed as 
" a complete romance from beginning to end." He was placed in arrest for misbehavior before the 
enemy. 

J Lieutenant-Colonel Kiordan, 37th New York, 3d brigade 1st division 3d corps. 

§ Lieutenant-Colonel Merrill, 17th Maine, 3d brigade 1st division 3d corps. 

II Brigadier-General I. \Y, Revere, 2d brigade 2d division 3d corps. 

** " Premature and precipitate withdrawal." Captain Poland, chief-of-stafi' 3d division. 
" Injudicious retreat." Brigadier-General J. B. Carr, 1st brigade 1st division. 
" Regiment being badly broken up." Lt.-Col. Olmsted, 2d New York, 3d brigade 2d division. 
" A regiment of our troops broke through my ranks." Lt.-Col. Price, 7th N.J., 3d brig. 2d div. 
" Gave way in confusion at first volley." Capt. J <"■ Langsfon, 8th N.J., 3d brig. 2d div. 
" The enemy drove the first division." Maj. Dunne, 115th Penna., 3d brigade 2d division. 
" I saw our troops break and run without giving the enemy a single volley." Col. S. M. Bowman, 
2d brigade 3d division. 

*f Brig.-Gen. J. F. Knipe, 1st brigade 1st division. *t 114th Penna. 

*l Brig.-Gen. T. H. Ruger. *|| Col. Hawley, 3d Wisconsin, 3d brig. 1st div. 12th corps. 



the 3d Maryland." A Third Corps colonel* reports "the front lines having broken 
and fallen back in some confusion." Anotherf complains that "men from other regi- 
ments of the corps came rushing through my line in great confusion." Still another J 
found "a great stream of men belonging to the Third Corps going to the rear." Yet 
another, § "While retiring the regiment was divided and separated by other troops." 
Another officer || took nearly a brigade to the rear, and at noon reports having one 
thousand seven hundred and fifteen men, representing nine regiments, which he had 
recruited from "a constant stream of stragglers." It is wearisome to cite, yet to show 
that the picture is not overdrawn, I quote a few phrases from Third Corps official reports 
all having reference to Third Corps troops on May 3.** 

brigadier of the Twelfth Corps*t says "I ordered the regiments of the 
Third Corps which were lying down in my front to move forward and 
assist our men at the barricade. I failed, for a regiment of red-legged 
zouaves*]: came pell-mell from our left with less than half their number of 
the enemy close at their heels. They could not be rallied, and were the cause of the 
giving way of General Berry's line and our own, as they carried with them the troops 
intended as re-enforcements. These never came up nor fired a shot." Another*§ says 
"The Third Corps troops on my right yielded to the enemy ; " while a colonel *|| for- 
mally rebukes a regiment of his own division for firing into him. 

In spite of all this it took the entire forenoon to force Hooker's line. Hooker is 
disabled, and the exhausted troops pause to take breath. Lee, leaving Stuart to watch 
Hooker, detaches part of his troops and marches eastwardly to meet Sedgwick. 




U.S, Ford 




sburg 



MAP V. MAY 3 P.M. 



i^^^^^i ^'-'^^^'^ message to General Sedgwick found him some miles below Fred- 
'^"''T' l" - ^'■''^■ksburg ; it was daylight of May 3 ere he reached the town. Still 
i' J^ '^ '! waiting and reconnoitring, it was eleven a. m. ere he forced Marye's Hill 
and essayed to march toward Hooker. Even then he waited to let his 
rear division lead the column, and on reaching Salem Church found himself confronted 
by a considerable number of the enemy, and receixed the pleasing intelligence that 
Early's troops had reoccupied the heights from which he had just driven them. From 
this out General Sedgwick seems to have known nothing but Banks' Ford — his des- 
patches teem with reference to this haven — and on the night of May 4 he did cross 
there, and thus relieved Lee from any anxiety he may have entertained. 

The contest was now over, and on May 6 Hooker withdrew from the south side 
and recrossed the Rappahannock. Was it a victory or was it a defeat? Let one 
despatch answer. 

Headquartkrs Army of Potomac, 

Near Chancellorsville, Va., May 5, 1S63. 
To/Zif CommauMng Officer Confederate Forces, Chancellorsville, Va. 

I would most respectfully request the privilege of sending a burial-party on the field of Chancellors- 
ville to bury the dead there and care for the wounded officers and soldiers of my command. 
"Very respectfully, 

Joseph Hooker, Major-Geiieral CommanJing. 



\ 



GHANCELLOESVILLE 



* 

4 



t 



\ 



